SDCC 09 - Top Cow Introduces New HEROES & VILLAINS

Every year Comic-Con International is a place where people come together - as fans, as creators, as stars, and even as businesses. This year, Top Cow Entertainment chose San Diego to

announce a coming-together with a new management and production company called Heroes and Villains Entertainment (HVE) on a series of comic book projects, including a title called Tracker, a new take on werewolve mythology.

“It combines touches of noir, thrillers and the werewolf genre in a perfect amalgamation,” said Markus Goerg, a partner at HVE. “The story is so cool and gripping, and the title represents what [HVE’s] trying to do as a whole.”

Tracker will be written by newcomer Jonathan Lincoln with art by Francis Tsai. Lincoln, who also created the title, brought the title to HVE which in turn took it to Top Cow.

Tracker tells the story of an FBI agent named Alex O’Roarke, whose pursuit of a serial killer leads him to unexplored territory when its revealed the killer is also a werewolf.

When the idea for Tracker was originally introduced to HVE by Lincoln, the partners were impressed not only by the story but the enthusiasm of the creator himself. “What excited us was Jonathan’s spin on the classic werewolf genre, and the tremendous amount of love he had for the genre.”

“Lincoln also looks like he could transform into a werewolf at any time,” said HVE Partner Mikhael Nayfeld.

Tracker is initially planned as a five-issue miniseries, with hopes to launch an ongoing series after that if sales warrant. “[The miniseries] is going to leave a lasting trail, so to speak, to continue,” explained Nayfeld. “Think of it as the first movie in what could be a giant trilogy.”

When asked about the name of their company, Heroes and Villains, Hillenbrand had an interesting story to tell.

“In came about with a lot of drinking,” he said. “We sat around trying to come up with cool names that really got to what we are. After about a thousand names and 3 weeks or work, it popped up. I don’t know who said it, but it literally just clicked.”

“Every great story has a hero and a villain. Sometimes we as readers feel heroic, sometimes we might identify more with the villain. It prompts a fun reaction from people who here it for the first time.”

“We’ve been in business for about two years now, but this project is sort of our coming out party,” said Neyfeld.

Part of the reason why they’re choosing this avenue to announce themselves to the public is the opportunity to work on new stories, instead of re-hashing or revamp old ones.

“There’s been a trend in the entertainment industry to cannibalize stories from other mediums because there’s already some awareness by the public at large,” said Nayfeld. “With everyone resurrecting the same stuff, comics is one of the few places where you can still create and develop new stories.”

Tracker is to be the first project of this partnership, although a second title has already been put into production. “The partnership is open-ended,” said Hillenbrand,” but we’d like to put out somewhere between three and five comics a year.”